For my Valentines Day gift, my amazing wife gave me a dinner menu and a wine budget so I could research and buy wine pairings for the food. It was a super fun exercise that really led me to learn a lot about a whole slew of different wines, regions, and pairing methods.
Here is the menu:
Appetizer = Steamed clams with a touch of garlic and rosemary.
Main = Surf & Turf… Fillet mignon, lobster, roasted broccoli, potatoes.
Dessert = Chocolate fondue with strawberries.
The clams immediately sent me to Muscadet, but I wanted to spend some of the budget on an opener and I figured this course would be forgiving to a wide range of options. I landed on a bottle of Paul Pernot Puligny-Montrachet… boy it did not disappoint. By far, it was the wine of the night. The thing that stood out to me was the perfect body, acidity, structure, and length of the wine. The tasty notes of green apple, lemon zest, cream, and nuttiness were lovely accompaniments with the clams.
Seeing the menu, I immediately thought the biggest challenge was going to be the surf and turf. I spend most of my time researching here and settled on the Occidental Freestone-Occidental Pinot Noir. This California pinot had enough body to hold up to the lean steak, but it was light enough to not overpower the sweet lobster. I purchased this bottle explicitly for its reportedly saline notes coming from the influence of the Sonoma coast. The wine was fascinating with a green menthol/herbaceousness, tart fruits, and the promised note of saline. I think it turned out perfectly for the dish and really paired better with the lobster than expected.
We were running out of steam by the dessert course and luckily I did not splurge on this bottle. I chose the Alasia Moscato D'Asti for this last course. I figured that a Moscato would go nicely with strawberries, which it did. However, the chocolate from the fondue just wrecked the delicate Moscato. Lesson learned on this one.
At the end of the day, we had a blast drinking great wine, having good food, and making some fun memories.
P.S. We did not make it through all of the food nor all of the wine. The Puligny and Pinot held up nicely for leftovers the next day.
by TC_Thomas51